Heat dissipation apparatus for data center

ABSTRACT

The present invention discloses a heat dissipation apparatus that comprises a heat transfer means and an air channel. The heat transfer means is filled with a first fluid, and it has an evaporation portion and a condenser portion where the evaporation portion receives heat from at least one server and the heat is transmitted to the condenser portion through the first fluid. The air channel receives a second fluid to transfer the heat from the condenser portion into a predetermined space. The first fluid is different than the second fluid.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation in-part of, and claims a priority to the U.S. application Ser. No. 12/704,963 entitled “HEAT DISSIPATION APPARATUS FOR DATA CENTER” filed on Feb. 12, 2010. Also, the disclosure of the U.S. application Ser. No. 12/704,963 is incorporated herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The invention relates to a heat dissipation apparatus for cooling at least a server in a data center, and more particularly to the heat dissipation apparatus for cooling servers in a data center using one of the heat pipes, heatsinks, heat pipe assisted heat sinks and vapor chambers or combination thereof to effectively remove heat source from one or more servers in the date center.

2. Description of Related Art

The conventional cooling approach to removing multiple heat sources from a plurality of servers in a data center is to apply a plurality of air conditioning devices arranged in a place adjacent to the multiple heat sources so that each air conditioning device can deal with each heat source generated by each server for heat removal in the data center. However, such conventional cooling approach may cause energy waste in power consumption and produce a large cost for managing the data center by the service providers.

Another conventional cooling approach to removing multiple heat sources from the plurality of servers in the data center is to apply one huge air conditioning device to cool the whole heat sources generated from the plurality of servers in the data center for trying to reduce the power consumption and managing cost. However, such conventional cooling approach may also cause the significantly inconsistent temperature distribution in each server in the data center. For example, the closer to the huge air conditioning device the server locates, the better heat transfer effect the server has in the data center. It is obvious that part of servers near the huge air conditioning device have an average temperature lower than that of other part of servers away from the huge air conditioning device. Moreover, the heat generated by some servers cannot be removed effectively because the servers are located further away from the huge air conditioning device, and thus the servers will be damaged from the uncontrollable heat.

Hence, it is imperative to resolve the above-mentioned problems of multiple heat sources from the plurality of servers in the data center, so as for the service providers to manage the multiple heat sources in a less power consumption and optimum cost approach.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To solve the problems and the drawbacks encountered in the prior arts, the present invention discloses a heat dissipation apparatus that comprises at least a heat transfer means and an air channel. Each heat transfer means is filled with a first fluid, and it has an evaporation portion and a condenser portion where the evaporation portion receives heat from the at least one server, and then the heat is transmitted to the condenser portion through the first fluid. The air channel is provided to receive a second fluid for transferring the heat away from the condenser portion into a predetermined space. The air channel encompasses the condenser portion. The condenser portion further comprises a plurality of fins. The first fluid is different than the second fluid. Moreover, a cooling conduit is further provided to receive a third fluid for conveying the third fluid to each condenser portion. Besides, a middle conduit is further provided to connect the cooling conduit with the condenser portion so as to maintain a uniform temperature distributed anywhere within the air channel. Moreover, a fan is further provided, arranged opposite to the condenser portion, and connected to the middle conduits so as to remove the heat from the condenser portion. Besides, the heat transfer means can be a flat tube provided with a plurality of micro channels, each of which is filled with the first fluid. Besides, the heat transfer means can be a heat pipe in which a wick structure is configured and the wick structure is filled with the first fluid. The heat pipe is further equipped with a contact block at its evaporation portion such that the contact block can contact the heat with its contact surface.

Therefore, it is a primary objective of the invention to propose a heat dissipation apparatus for cooling one or more servers in a data center by means of combining the air channel with the flat tube or heat pipe for the purpose of cooling the heat source in the data center, and thereby greatly reducing the maintenance expenditure on the air conditioning.

It is a second objective of the invention to propose a heat dissipation apparatus for cooling one or more servers in a data center by means of further providing the cooling conduit together with the air channel so that a uniform temperature is distributed at each of the condenser portions for the purpose of greatly improving the heat transfer in the data center.

Besides, the present invention provides another heat dissipation apparatus for cooling one or more servers in a data center, and the heat dissipation apparatus comprises at least a heat transfer means. Each heat transfer means is filled with a first fluid, and it has an evaporation portion and a condenser portion where the evaporation portion receives heat from the at least one server, and then the heat is transmitted to the condenser portion through the first fluid. The condenser portion further comprises a cold plate that has a loop groove through the cold plate. The loop groove has one opening to guide a second fluid of low temperature to flow into the cold plate and has another opening to guide the second fluid of high temperature to flow out of the cold plate. Besides, the cold plate has on its one side a surface to contact the condenser portion of the heat transfer means. Besides, a first and second water pipes are further provided where the first water pipe is supplied with the second fluid of low temperature and is connected with the one opening of the cold plate, and the second water pipe is connected with another opening of the cold plate so as to drain the second fluid of high temperature out of the cold plate. Moreover, a chiller is further provider to connect the first water pipe with the second water pipe so as to cool the second fluid for recycling. Moreover, a pump is further provider to facilitate recycling of the second fluid. Besides, the heat transfer means can be a flat tube provided with a plurality of micro channels, each of which is filled with the first fluid. Besides, the heat transfer means can be a heat pipe in which a wick structure is configured and the wick structure is filled with the first fluid. The heat pipe is further equipped with a contact block at its evaporation portion such that the contact block can contact the heat with its contact surface.

Therefore, it is a primary objective of the invention to propose a heat dissipation apparatus for cooling one or more servers in a data center by means of combining the cold plate with the flat tube or heat pipe so that cold water is supplied in the first water pipe to flow into the cold plate for cooling the heat at the condenser portion, and the second water pipe guides hot water to flow out of the cold plate because the cold water becomes hot water after heat absorption within the cold plate of the condenser portion, and thereby allowing the hot water to be cooled into cold water again to achieve the green and recyclable solution friendly to the environment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objectives can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying diagrams.

FIG. 1A is a 3D schematic view that shows a flat tube with a plurality of micro channels according to a first preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1B is a schematic plan view that shows a heat dissipation apparatus comprising two of the flat tubes and an air channel encompassing part of the flat tubes according to the first preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1C is a schematic plan view that shows the heat dissipation apparatus further comprising a cooling conduit and a middle conduit according to FIG. 1B.

FIG. 1D is a schematic plan view that shows the heat dissipation apparatus comprising two heat pipes and an air channel encompassing part of the heat pipes according to the first preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1E is a schematic plan view that shows the heat dissipation apparatus further comprising a cooling conduit and a middle conduit according to FIG. 1D.

FIG. 2A is a schematic plan view that shows a heat dissipation apparatus for cooling a plurality of servers in a data center where the heat dissipation apparatus combines two cold plates with two flat tubes according to a second preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2B is a schematic plan view that shows the heat dissipation apparatus for cooling a plurality of servers in a data center where the heat dissipation apparatus combines two cold plates with two heat pipes according to the second preferred embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A heat dissipation apparatus for cooling a plurality of servers in a data center has been disclosed in the invention; wherein the principles of heat transfer employed in a heat pipe or flat tube may be easily comprehended by those of ordinary skill in relevant technical fields, and thus will not be further described hereafter. Meanwhile, it should be noted that the drawings referred to the following paragraphs only serve the purpose of illustrating structures related to the characteristics of the disclosure, and are not necessarily drawn according to actual scales and sizes of the disclosed objects.

A heat dissipation apparatus for cooling a plurality of servers (not shown) in a data center according to a first preferred embodiment of the invention is disclosed herein. The heat dissipation apparatus comprises two heat transfer means and an air channel. Each heat transfer means is a flat tube in the first preferred embodiment of the invention. Refer to FIG. 1A, it is a 3D schematic view to show the flat tube 10 with a plurality of micro channels 100, each of which is filled with the first fluid (not shown).

Refer to FIG. 1B, it is a schematic plan view that shows a heat dissipation apparatus comprising two of the flat tubes 10 and an air channel 17 encompassing part of the two flat tubes 10. Each of the flat tubes 10 has an evaporation portion 11 and a condenser portion 12 where the evaporation portion 11 receives heat from the server's component (not shown), for example, mainly from CPU, GPU, disk, or RAM in each server, and then the heat is transmitted to the condenser portion 12 through the first fluid. The first fluid can be selected from one of water, ammonia, solvent, refrigerant and coolant, or combination thereof. Besides, the air channel 17 is supplied with a second fluid (e.g. ambient air), and the air channel 17 encompasses the condenser portion 12 of each flat tube 10 so as to transfer the heat (e.g. hot air) away from the condenser portions 12 into a predetermined space through the ambient air. It is noted that the predetermined space can be located either outside the data center or inside the data center dependent on the actual case. The condenser portion 12 further comprises a plurality of fins 120. It is noted that the fins are configured in such a particular structure as described in PCT Patent Publication No. WO/2009/86825. Therefore, the air channel 17 uses ambient air to remove the multiple heat sources of servers in the data center so as to greatly reduce the maintenance expenditure compared with the conventional air conditioning.

Refer back to FIG. 1B, a fan 16 is further provided and arranged opposite to each of the condenser portions 12 so that the fan 16 can blow the heat on the condenser portions 12 as hot air away from the condenser portion 12 more efficiently.

Refer to FIG. 1C, two middle conduits 13 and a cooling conduit 14 connected with the middle conduits 13 are further provided, and the middle conduits 13 connects the cooling conduit 14 with the air channel 17 when the flat tubes 10 are used as a heat transfer means. The cooling conduit 14 is supplied with a third fluid (e.g. cool air) for conveying the third fluid to each of the condenser portions 12. Besides, each of the middle conduits 13 can be further provided to connect the cooling conduit 14 so as to guide the cool air from the cooling conduit 14 to cool down the heat on the condenser portion 12. Therefore, both the first temperature T_(H1) at an upper height of the middle conduits 14 and the second temperature T_(H2) at a lower height of the middle conduits 14 can reach an almost equal temperature. On the other hand, the two temperatures T_(H1′) and T_(H2′) respectively at different heights of both condenser portions can also be controlled at almost equal warm temperature after the heat is being cool down, so as to greatly improve the heat transfer in the data center. Besides, the air channel 17 is provided with a second fluid like ambient air for transferring the warm air (which is formed because of the cool air cooling down the heat) on the condenser portions 12 into a predetermined space. It is noted that the predetermined space can be located either outside the data center or inside the data center dependent on the actual case. Therefore, the air channel 17 together with the cooling conduit 14 can effectively remove the multiple heat sources of the condenser portions 12 in an optimum cooling efficiency because an equal temperature is uniformly distributed at each of the condenser portions or anywhere within the air channel 17, and thereby greatly improving the heat transfer in the data center. It is noted that the second and third fluids can be the same fluid. For example, for the sake of cost saving, both the second and third fluids can be the same ambient air.

Refer to FIG. 1D, it is a schematic plan view that shows a heat dissipation apparatus comprising two of the heat pipes 18 and an air channel 17 encompassing part of the two heat pipes 18. Each heat pipe 18 has a wick structure (not shown) between its evaporation portion and its condenser portion filled with the first fluid therebetween, and the heat pipe 18 is further equipped with a contact block 180 at its evaporation portion so as to contact the heat with its contact surface of the contact block. The evaporation portion adjacent to the contact block 180 receives heat from the server's component (not shown), for example, mainly from CPU, GPU, disk, or RAM in each server, and then the heat is transmitted to the condenser portion 12 through the first fluid. The first fluid can be selected from one of water, ammonia, solvent, refrigerant and coolant, or combination thereof. Besides, the air channel 17 is supplied with a second fluid (e.g. ambient air), and the air channel 17 encompasses the condenser portion 12 of each heat pipes 18 so as to transfer the heat (e.g. hot air) away from the condenser portions 12 into a predetermined space through the ambient air. It is noted that the predetermined space can be located either outside the data center or inside the data center dependent on the actual case. The condenser portion 12 further comprises a plurality of fins 120. It is noted that the fins are configured in such a particular structure as described in PCT Patent Publication No. WO/2009/86825. Therefore, the air channel 17 uses ambient air to remove the multiple heat sources of servers in the data center so as to greatly reduce the maintenance expenditure compared with the conventional air conditioning.

Refer to FIG. 1E, two middle conduits 13 and a cooling conduit 14 connected with the middle conduits 13 are further provided, and the middle conduits 13 connects the cooling conduit 14 with the air channel 17 when the heat pipes 18 are used as a heat transfer means. The cooling conduit 14 is supplied with a third fluid (e.g. cool air) for conveying the third fluid to each of the condenser portions 12. Besides, each of the middle conduits 13 can be further provided to connect the cooling conduit 14 so as to guide the cool air from the cooling conduit 14 to cool down the heat on the condenser portion 12. Therefore, both the first temperature T_(H1) at an upper height of the middle conduits 14 and the second temperature T_(H2) at a lower height can reach an almost equal temperature. On the other hand, the two temperatures T_(H1′) and T_(H2′) respectively at different heights of both condenser portions can also be controlled at almost equal warm temperature after the heat is being cool down, so as to greatly improve the heat transfer in the data center. Besides, the air channel 17 is provided with a second fluid like ambient air for transferring the warm air (which is formed because of the cool air cooling down the heat) on the condenser portions 12 into a predetermined space. It is noted that the predetermined space can be located either outside the data center or inside the data center dependent on the actual case. Therefore, the air channel 17 together with the cooling conduit 14 can effectively remove the multiple heat sources of the condenser portions 12 in an optimum cooling efficiency because an equal temperature is uniformly distributed at each of the condenser portions or anywhere within the air channel 17, and thereby greatly improving the heat transfer in the data center. It is noted that the second and third fluids can be the same fluid. For example, for the sake of cost saving, both the second and third fluids can be the same ambient air.

Refer to FIG. 2A, which is a schematic plan view that shows a heat dissipation apparatus for cooling a plurality of servers (not shown) in a data center where the heat dissipation apparatus combines two cold plates 19 with two flat tubes 10 according to a second preferred embodiment of the invention. The heat dissipation apparatus comprises at least a heat transfer means. Each heat transfer means is uses as the flat tube 10 filled with a first fluid, and it has an evaporation portion 11 and a condenser portion 12 where the evaporation portion 11 receives heat from the at least one server, and then the heat is transmitted to the condenser portion 12 through the first fluid. Each condenser portion 12 further comprises a cold plate 19 that has a loop groove 190 through the cold plate 19. The loop groove 190 has one opening 191 to guide a second fluid of low temperature to flow into the cold plate 19 and has another opening 192 to guide the second fluid of high temperature to flow out of the cold plate 19. Besides, the cold plate 19 has on its one side a surface to contact the condenser portion 12 of the flat tube 10.

Besides, a first and second water pipes 24,29 are further provided where the first water pipe 24 is supplied with the second fluid of low temperature and is connected with the opening 191 of the cold plate 19, and the second water pipe 29 is connected with the other opening 192 of the cold plate 19 so as to drain the second fluid of high temperature out of the cold plate 19.

Moreover, a chiller 26 is further provider to connect the first water pipe 24 with the second water pipe 29 so as to cool the second fluid for recycling. Moreover, a pump 27 is further provider to facilitate recycling of the second fluid. Besides, each flat tube 10 is provided with a plurality of micro channels 100, each of which is filled with the first fluid, shown in FIG. 1A.

Refer to FIG. 2B, which is a schematic plan view that shows the heat dissipation apparatus for cooling a plurality of servers (not shown) in a data center where the heat dissipation apparatus combines two cold plates 19 with two heat pipes 18 according to the second preferred embodiment of the invention. The heat dissipation apparatus comprises at least a heat transfer means. Each heat transfer means is uses as a heat pipe 18 filled with a first fluid. Each heat pipe 18 has a wick structure (not shown) between its evaporation portion (adjacent to the contact block 180) and its condenser portion (adjacent to the cold plate 19) filled with the first fluid therebetween, and the heat pipe 18 is further equipped with the contact block 180 at its evaporation portion so as to contact the heat with its contact surface of the contact block 180. The evaporation portion receives the heat from the server's component (not shown), for example, mainly from CPU, GPU, disk, or RAM in each server, and then the heat is transmitted to the condenser portion through the first fluid.

The condenser portion of each heat pipe 18 further comprises the cold plate 19 that has a loop groove 190 through the cold plate 19. The loop groove 190 has one opening 191 to guide a second fluid of low temperature to flow into the cold plate 19 and has another opening 192 to guide the second fluid of high temperature to flow out of the cold plate 19. Besides, the cold plate 19 has on its one side a surface to contact the condenser portion 12 of the flat tube 10. In order to achieve better contact between the heat pipe 18 and the cold plate 19, for instance, in the practical case where the heat pipe 18 has a flatter portion 181 to contact the surface on one side of the cold plate 19.

Besides, a first and second water pipes 24,29 are further provided where the first water pipe 24 is supplied with the second fluid of low temperature and is connected with the opening 191 of the cold plate 19, and the second water pipe 29 is connected with the other opening 192 of the cold plate 19 so as to drain the second fluid of high temperature out of the cold plate 19.

Moreover, a chiller 26 is further provider to connect the first water pipe 24 with the second water pipe 29 so as to cool the second fluid for recycling. Moreover, a pump 27 is further provider to facilitate recycling of the second fluid. Besides, each flat tube 10 is provided with a plurality of micro channels 100, each of which is filled with the first fluid, shown in FIG. 1A.

Besides, the heat pipe 18 has a wick structure (not shown) and the wick structure is filled with the first fluid. The heat pipe 18 is further equipped with a contact block 180 at its evaporation portion such that the contact block 180 can contact the heat with its contact surface.

Although a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described for purposes of illustration, it is understood that various changes and modifications to the described embodiment can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention as disclosed in the appended claims. 

1. A heat dissipation apparatus, for cooling at least one server in a data center, comprising: a heat transfer means, filled with a first fluid, having an evaporation portion and a condenser portion wherein said evaporation portion receives heat from said at least one server, and the heat is transmitted to said condenser portion through said first fluid; and an air channel, receiving a second fluid to transfer the heat from said condenser portion into a predetermined space; wherein said condenser portion further comprises a plurality of fins, and said first fluid is different than said second fluid.
 2. The heat dissipation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said air channel encompasses said condenser portion.
 3. The heat dissipation apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a cooling conduit and a middle conduit connected with said cooling conduit, wherein said cooling conduit receives a third fluid to convey said third fluid to said condenser portion through said middle conduit
 4. The heat dissipation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said air channel maintains a uniform temperature distributed anywhere within said air channel.
 5. The heat dissipation apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a fan, said fan being arranged opposite to said condenser portion and being connected to said middle conduits so as to remove the heat from said condenser portion.
 6. The heat dissipation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first fluid is selected from the group consisting of water, ammonia, solvent, refrigerant and coolant, or combination thereof.
 7. The heat dissipation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said second fluid is ambient air.
 8. The heat dissipation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said third fluid is cool air.
 9. The heat dissipation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said heat transfer means is a flat tube provided with a plurality of micro channels therein, each of which is filled with said first fluid.
 10. The heat dissipation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said heat transfer means is a heat pipe having a wick structure filled with said first fluid, said heat pipe being further equipped with a contact block at said evaporation portion so as to contact the heat with its contact surface of said contact block.
 11. A heat dissipation apparatus, for cooling at least one server in a data center, comprising: a heat transfer means, filled with a first fluid, having an evaporation portion and a condenser portion wherein said evaporation portion receives heat from said at least one server, and the heat is transmitted to said condenser portion through said first fluid; wherein said condenser portion further comprises a cold plate having a loop groove therethrough, said loop groove having one opening to guide a second fluid of low temperature to flow into said cold plate and having another opening to guide said second fluid of high temperature to flow out of said cold plate.
 12. The heat dissipation apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said cold plate has on its one side a surface to contact said condenser portion of said heat transfer means.
 13. The heat dissipation apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising a first water pipe filled with said second fluid of low temperature to connect said one opening of said cold plate.
 14. The heat dissipation apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising a second water pipe to connect said another opening of said cold plate so as to drain said second fluid of high temperature out of said cold plate.
 15. The heat dissipation apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising a chiller to connect said first water pipe with said second water pipe so as to cool said second fluid for recycling.
 16. The heat dissipation apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising a pump to facilitate recycling of said second fluid.
 17. The heat dissipation apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said first fluid is selected from the group consisting of water, ammonia, solvent, refrigerant and coolant, or combination thereof.
 18. The heat dissipation apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said second fluid is water.
 19. The heat dissipation apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said heat transfer means is a flat tube provided with a plurality of micro channels therein, each of which is filled with said first fluid.
 20. The heat dissipation apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said heat transfer means is a heat pipe having a wick structure filled with said first fluid, said heat pipe being further equipped with a contact block at said evaporation portion so as to contact the heat with its contact surface of said contact block. 